For my engaged learning experience, I chose to complete this at the Indianapolis Colts Organization. If you are unaware of who the Indianapolis Colts are, they are a National Football League franchise located in Indianapolis. Some of the tasks I completed were laundry, setting up practice, assisting with football practice, and other assigned duties that varied day-to-day. I didn't really know what I wanted to do for my engaged learning experience. I weighed many different options trying to figure out if I wanted to stay around basketball or try out a different sport. I made a connection during a meeting and went out on a limb and asked Kelly about possible internship opportunities. I want to be a Division 1 athletic director so I think that completing my engaged learning in a football setting with assist me in knowing how the sport is played and how the administration should be run. 

Some of the connections I have seen between my coursework, out-of-classroom experiences, and life experiences with my engaged learning experiences have been a lot in some, and little in others. The coursework-engaged learning experience hasn’t really had any connection. Yes, I have learned some facilities content that has helped me with my engaged learning experience while being at Lucas Oil Stadium, but not much. My out-of-classroom experiences have been very helpful. While working with the basketball team I have learned a ground knowledge of how teams should be run. Also working with the Pacers & Fever has been beneficial because it allows me to work in a professional sports industry. I learned what it was like to work with “famous” athletes and was able to carry that over into my engaged learning. My engaged learning experience has allowed to me see how a different sport is operated and administered. I want to go into athletic administration and this engaged learning has allowed me to see how to NFL & Indianapolis Colts operate their organizations. Gaining this information will allow me to better support student-athletes, academically and athletically

My experience with the Indianapolis Colts provided me with experiences to gain exposure to different communities and cultures by doing various tasks. To name a few, we built a Habitat for Humanity house in the parking lot of the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Complex parking lot. We hosted camps at the facility for various groups from Indianapolis. Training camp exposed me to many different people from all over the world. There were many different cultures and backgrounds that we interns came from which made my experience fascinating. These interactions with my fellow interns, players, staff, etc have really shown me how unique each of us is and we each have something to bring to the table. It has really made me know that even though I may be an intern, I still have a voice and that the organization always tells me to say what I think may help the organization. I think my attitude towards life in general has changed. I have been more humble and down to earth. I saw how the Colts organization allowed me to learn and gain knowledge and so I want to continue that opportunity they gave me to learn and implement that into my future when I have interns.

My engaged learning experience was very unique. Working for a professional sports organization is a lot different than a high school or even a collegiate organization. During my engaged learning experience, I had the opportunity to work at the 2023 Colts Training Camp. I knew that this was going to be an awesome learning experience. The one thing the training camp taught me was to be open and flexible. A little background about training camp is that it consists of nearly six weeks of intense, long hours of work. You are placed in a hotel during those weeks, and have little to no time outside of “work”. The first week of camp was tiring! My first week of camp I probably worked 80 hours. This was a huge adjustment for me! My body was worn out after the first week, and there really aren't any off days! Green lights all day, every day. So the lesson I learned during those six weeks was to be open and flexible. You're going to work weird hours in the sports industry and you have to be willing to do that! You may have to give up some of the extracurricular activities you participated in for a bit until your schedule changes. All of these things I learned and it has really helped me now that I’m in school, managing basketball, and ultimately when I start working in the industry full-time.

The impact that I received from my engaged learning experience was exceptional! I learned valuable information that I have been able to pour into my other two positions with the Pacers and IUPUI. The work that I did had a great impact on the players, staff, and fans. Waking up every day at Training Camp was so much fun! I enjoyed going to the facility trying to figure out how my day was going to go and what tasks were going to challenge me, Having this mindset going into each day set the tone and made me want to learn more. This internship challenged me and this is what I needed. I felt like I had already learned and knew the basics, and this internship made me work! I learned software, charts, and other information that I hadn't known anything about and it helped made me understand my job more.

I made lots of connections! Not only professionally but personally! I met staff from all the departments, from coaching, operations, video, and healthcare, to administration. I was able to ask questions and gain a greater understanding of what they do day to day. Since doing this internship, I know I want to get into operations, which booking hotels, flights, and food orders. Melanie with the Colts does a fantastic job and I have kept in contact with her and her staff so that I can continue learning in that department. You never know when someone will offer you a position even though you were an intern in a different department. To this day, all of us interns still keep in contact. A lot of interns live locally and we still go out to dinner and bounce ideas off of each other.

My overall experience with the Indianapolis Colts was AMAZING! The information I learned has helped me not only professionally but personally. I have been able to implement the information I learned during the Summer into my life now. I had never worked football, I had only been around basketball equipment and operations, so going into my internship, I had an open mind wanting to learn as much as possible. While it was a lot, I had to learn the National Football League's rules and had to find how the Colts organization ran its operations. I look forward to what the future has in store for me when I apply for graduate assistant positions and internships.